New York Times' columnist Joe Nocera gave a shout out yesterday to Mike Weisser, his "favorite gun dealer." The 70-year-old owner of a Massachussetts gun shop claims to have sold more than 40,000 guns in his long career as a firearms dealer. But, according to Nocera, Weisser — who also blogs as Mike, the Gun Guy for the Huffington Post — "strongly believes that the country needs a new approach to guns and gun violence that is data-driven, less hyperbolic, and that emphasizes the public health aspect of gun violence."Weisser is most outspoken about guns as the weapon of choice in suicides — and with good reason. According to the Pew Research Center, 60 percent of all gun deaths in 2010 were suicides. In Washington State, that suicide-by-gun rate is 74 percent. Each figure in the graph below represents six gun-related deaths. Red bodies are suicides (74 percent); blue are homicides (22 percent); black represents law enforcement (2 percent); accidents are yellow (1 percent); grey is undetermined (1 percent). Bottom line: Lots of people killing themselves with guns. — M.B.
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control
